Please join us in supporting our folklife traditions and the people’s arts!

Dear friends,

When you think of the things that make you who you are – what you want to safeguard and pass down to future generations—what comes to your mind? If you’re like most North Carolinians, you think about the traditions of your family and community: the foods, tales customs, and art forms that are just not quite the same anywhere else.

Your contributions have helped make it possible for the North Carolina Folklife Institute to preserve and promote traditional arts and cultures in our state for 40 years! We want to celebrate our anniversary in 2014 by making as much of our wealth of knowledge and resources available to you as possible.

Your gift of $50, $100, $500, or $1,000 can make all the difference right now. If you like, you can specify your gift to a particular 2014 special project:

• Folklife fieldwork documentation – You can help us identify important traditions and tradition-bearers in Cumberland, Hoke, Robeson, and Scotland counties.

• Sharing the archive – You can help us digitize years of folklife materials and make them available for you to browse online.

• Supporting traditional artists – You can help our state’s finest traditional performers and craftspeople earn a living from their work so these traditions will continue.

• Community training – You can help communities in North Carolina learn skills from folklife documentation and interviewing to small archive management.

Your gift is extremely important because it helps us provide resources to traditional artists and to small folklife and cultural heritage organizations across the state. In this uncertain economic time, the Folklife Institute—and the traditional arts—count on your support more than ever. Please make your gift today.

For a limited time, donors of more than $100 will receive a special thank-you gift: a print of “Cheryl’s Memory Quilt.”

I promise you that your donation will be put to work, making a real difference in North Carolina. Please join us in supporting our folklife traditions and the people’s arts!

In 2013 we partnered with the NC Folklore Society to bring people together from across the state to celebrate folklife and discuss its potential to help NC communities.

“Cheryl’s Memory Quilt,” by Shirley Freeman.

“Cheryl’s Memory Quilt,” by Shirley Freeman, is just one of the many traditional art forms documented in Bladen, Brunswick, and Columbus counties. (A print of this beautiful photo is our thank you for your donation of $100 or more!)